Things we learned: The Presidential Highway

Highway 1 is passing the cities Gore and Clinton, which are about 40km apart. When two persons with this name shared the ticket in the US-presidential election the region officially named the part of Highway 1 “Presidential Highway” in honor of the candidates. They also hoped that they would stop by when being in the country, but that never happened. Hey guys! What’s up, Billy? What’s up, Al? Can’t you make a little stopover here? People would appreciate it! And it is the best fishing place for trout here… just sayin’.

Stuff we saw:

The young ones get the milk.

And they love it…

Some of the herd coming back back from being milked and back to the meadows for new “input”.

The cows go on a rondel and get a milking machine attached. After the milking is done the cows get off the grid at the “exit point”. It is really fun to watch and it looks all really relaxed for the cows.

Their butts are painted to know if they would be up to see Mr. Bull.

They are too cute…

Gore is a nice little town

The landscape around Tam and Davids House is amazing.

A little park around the corner, not bad hey?

We got a lot of excellent home cooked meals. Taylor is preparing White Bait, a mini fish and a real delicacy.

There are different way to prepare it. This way was awesome.

Fried in the pen and on a bread.

A full table….

The backyard… in the evening we looked for dear that ran around the area…

The dog is the best trained animal I know. This “Stay” was not followed though.

Curio Bay with some petrified trees in the water.

We saw a nice penguin there.

Another nice yellowed eyed penguin having a walk on the beach

The beaches are amazing.

Nugget Point

Very nice view on the rocks down there.

Stuff we did:

How do you milk 700 cows? What happens with the milk? Is it stressful for the cows? Why do they have different colored paint-marks on their back? How much milk does a cow produce? Why can you see their ribs, are they hungry? How old do they get?

This and much more we asked and learned when talking to Tam and David. Tam and David own cows. Many cows. Around 700 cows. And they own a lot of farmland.

We didn’t know them when we arrived in Gore, a little town in the southeast of New Zealand. We just had an address and names when we pulled up in front of their wonderful house in the rolling hills of the area.

Family friends of Christy’s parents made the contact possible. And we feel very blessed to have had the chance to meet them and to get to know them. They are wonderful people. Both role-model individuals and a wonderful team and family together with their daughters

We spent time talking (not only about cows), playing games, cooking, laughing, sitting in front of the fireplace, looking out for deer in the backyard and working a little bit outside in the garden. They showed us their farm and some of the many cows that were milked.

We got to know her daughter Taylor and her boyfriend Michael.

One day we drove along the coast through the Catlins but the rest of the time we pretty much stayed in Gore.

We had a fantastic time with them. We stayed much longer than we originally thought. We arrived as complete strangers and left friends behind when we left.

If you read this: Thanks Tam and David.